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Nazareth: New Orleans or bust
Updated: July 29, 2012 6:16AM
Nazareth Academy sent 11 students, along with Principal Deborah Tracy and social studies teacher Anthony Gonzalez to New Orleans for a service trip from June 12-15. It was a week filled with opportunities for service and the chance for the students to work and interact with another Congregation of St. Joseph sponsored school, Saint Joseph Academy in Baton Rouge. This trip was made possible in part due to a Generous Promises Grant from The Congregation of Saint Joseph.
Students met people in the area still feeling the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The week was filled with opportunities for service, including work at The Arc, a center for people with disabilities, and with some New Orleans Head Start programs. The Arc location accommodates three programs: a landscaping business, homemade soup distribution and a Mardi Gras Bead Recycle program. The group spent one day sorting through 1,500 pounds of recycled beads, which will be resold for future festivals. The money raised will help pay for the center.
Sister Jackie Schmitz, CSJ and past principal of Nazareth, was their liaison while in New Orleans. She took the students to the Lower Ninth Ward, where they witnessed the devastation and re-building since Hurricane Katrina.
Nazareth Academy, a Catholic, coeducational, college preparatory high school serving families from 57 communities and more than 100 grade schools in Chicago and the western suburbs, established in 1900 and sponsored by the Congregation of St. Joseph, values scholarship, service, spirit and unity.
